Sewells Point is a peninsula of land in the independent city of Norfolk, Virginia in the United States, located at the mouth of the salt-water port of Hampton Roads. Sewells Point is bordered by water on three sides, with Willoughby Bay to the north, Hampton Roads to the west, and the Lafayette River to the south. It is the site of Naval Station Norfolk.

Origins and variations of name The area was originally named in the 17th century after Henry Sewell, an Englishman who arrived in Virginia sometime prior to 1632.

Later, variations in spelling were used, such as Sowells Point, Seawells Point, and Sewalls Point. The common spelling today is Sewells Point.

First church in Norfolk

About 1637, the Elizabeth River Parish was created. The first Anglican church of Elizabeth River Parish was erected between 1638 and 1640 "at Mr. Seawell's Pointe," with assistance of Thomas Willoughby. The first recorded minister was the Reverend John Wilson. The second church to be located in the area now known as South Hampton Roads (the first being St Lukes in Smithfield), it stood somewhere within the present western limits of the US Naval Station Norfolk. According to old court records, the Episcopal churches in Norfolk are directly descended from it.

Local government – Shire to County to City – A Virginia tradition

Sewells Point is an area of land, most notable because of its prominence along the eastern shore of the harbor of Hampton Roads. Never declared a town or city, Sewells Point is more correctly described as a geographical area. The listing of political entities which have constituted the local government at Sewells Point is complex, but typical of many communities in the state of Virginia dating back to the colonial period.

During the 17th century, shortly after establishment of Jamestown in 1607, English settlers and explorers began settling the areas adjacent to Hampton Roads. By 1634, the English colony of Virginia consisted of eight shires or counties with a total population of approximately 5,000 inhabitants. Sewells Point was a part of Elizabeth River Shire.

In 1636, the southern portion of Elizabeth River Shire became New Norfolk County, and was divided in 1637 into Upper and Lower Norfolk Counties. In 1691 Lower Norfolk County was in turn divided to form Norfolk County and Princess Anne County.

Sewells Point was to remain located in Norfolk County for over 225 years, until the independent City of Norfolk annexed the area in 1923. (Virginia has had an independent city political subdivision since 1871). The City of South Norfolk and Norfolk County merged to form the new independent city of Chesapeake in 1963.

Boundaries determined by weather Although Hampton Roads represents a sheltered area from the tempests of both the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, the area's shorelines change with extreme weather. At one time, apparently since English settlement began at Jamestown in 1607, Willoughby Bay did not border Sewells Point to the north, since it didn't even exist yet.

The area known as Willoughby takes its name from Thomas Willoughby, who came to Virginia in 1610 and received a land grant around 1625. Willoughby's son, Thomas II, was living there in the 1660s. According to local legend, his wife awoke one morning following a terrific storm (possibly the "Harry Cane" of 1667) to see a point of land in front her home, where there had been only water the night before. The Willoughby family, it is said, were quick to apply for an addendum to the original land grant, giving them ownership of the "new" property.

Severe storms and hurricanes would continue to transform the contour of the coast, and the Willoughby holdings, for more than a century. Although official records of Hampton Roads weather go back only to 1871 when the National Weather Service office was established in downtown Norfolk, records of earlier storms have been located in ships' logs, newspaper accounts, history books and writings of early settlers.

Residents of coastal Virginia in the colonial period (1607–1776) were very much aware of the weather. To people who lived near the water and derived much of their livelihood from the sea, a tropical storm was a noteworthy event. During a hurricane in 1749, the Chesapeake Bay rose above normal, sand spit was washed up at Sewells Point. With the help of the Great Coastal Hurricane of 1806, Willoughby Spit was formed. The area of water now located between Sewells Point and Willoughby Spit became known as Willoughby Bay.

A strategic Civil War location

Sewells Point's location at the mouth of Hampton Roads proved to be a strategic location during the early portion of the Civil War.

Battle of Sewells Point The first skirmish in Virginia, the little-known Battle of Sewells Point, was fought on May 18–19, 1861, on ground now occupied by the US Naval Station Norfolk. The events leading up to the initial engagement on Virginia soil had moved with whirlwind rapidity.

Events leading onto the Battle On December 20, 1860, South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union. Four months later, on April 12, 1861, troops of that state opened fire on Fort Sumter in Charleston's harbor. Five days later, Virginia became the eighth Southern state to withdraw from the Union, and join the newly formed Confederacy.

A few weeks later that spring, US General-in-Chief Winfield Scott proposed to President Lincoln a plan to bring the states back into the Union: cut the Confederacy off from the rest of the world instead of attacking its army in Virginia.

His plan was to blockade the Confederacy's coastline and control the Mississippi River valley with gunboats. Lincoln ordered a blockade of the southern seaboard from the South Carolina line to the Rio Grande on April 19 and on April 27 extended it to include the North Carolina and Virginia coasts. On April 20, the Union Navy burned and evacuated the Norfolk Navy Yard, destroying nine ships in the process, leaving only Fort Monroe at Old Point Comfort as the last bastion of the United States in Tidewater Virginia.

Occupation of Norfolk gave the Confederacy its only major shipyard and thousands of heavy guns, but they held it for only one year. CS Brigadier General Walter Gwynn, who commanded the Confederate defenses around Norfolk, erected batteries at Sewells Point, both to protect Norfolk and to control Hampton Roads.

The Union dispatched a fleet to Hampton Roads to enforce the blockade, and on May 18–19 Federal gunboats exchanged fire with the batteries at Sewells Point, resulting in little damage to either side.

The Battle Itself Stewart's "History of Norfolk County, Virginia" (1902), contains a detailed account of the Battle of Sewells Point that took place one month later.

There were no fatalities on either side. The only person wounded was a Confederate private who was struck by a fragment of a bursting shell. Subsequently, the Sewells Point batteries were under fire many times, but they were never silenced or captured in combat. A long-range rifled Sawyer gun of 24-pounder bore, firing 42-pound projectiles, was mounted at Fort Calhoun and shelled Sewells Point circa August 1861.The Civil War in Hampton Roads: Fort Wool at Battlefields.org Later, when Confederate forces evacuated Norfolk on May 10, 1862, the batteries were abandoned.

Battle of Hampton Roads

The famous Battle of Hampton Roads took place off Sewells Point in Hampton Roads on March 8–9, 1862.

USS Monitor of the Union Navy faced CSS Virginia of the Confederate States Navy.

The battle, which was inconclusive, is chiefly significant in naval history as the first battle between two powered, ironclad warships.

Abraham Lincoln and the bombardment of Sewells Point On May 5, 1862, President Lincoln, with his Cabinet Secretaries Stanton and Chase on board, proceeded to Hampton Roads on steamer Miami to personally direct the stalled Peninsular Campaign. The following day, Lincoln directed gunboat operations in the James River and the bombardment of Sewells Point by the blockading squadron in the five days he acted as Commander-in-Chief in the field.

On May 8, 1862, Monitor, Dacotah, Naugatuck, Seminole, and Susquehanna by direction of the President "-shelled Confederate batteries at Sewells Point, Virginia, as Flag Officer L. M. Goldsborough reported, "mainly with the view of ascertaining the practicability of landing a body of troops thereabouts" to move on Norfolk. Whatever rumors President Lincoln had received about Confederates abandoning Norfolk were now confirmed; a tug deserted and brought news that the evacuation was well underway and that CSS Virginia, with her accompanying small gunboats, planned to proceed up the James River or York River.

It was planned that when the Virginia came out, as she had on the 7th, the Union fleet would retire with the Monitor in the rear hoping to draw the powerful but under-engined warship into deep water where she might be rammed by high speed steamers. The bombardment uncovered reduced but still considerable strength at Sewells Point. The Virginia came out but not far enough to be rammed.

Two days later, President Lincoln, still acting as Commander-in-Chief, directed Flag Officer Goldsborough: "If you have tolerable confidence that you can successfully contend with the Merrimac [Lincoln and the North used the ships' former name] without the help of the Galena and two accompanying gunboats, send the Galena and two gunboats up the James River at once to support General McClellan." This division power afloat by the President silenced two shore batteries and forced gunboats CSS Jamestown and CSS Patrick Henry to return up the James River.

On May 9, 1862, President Lincoln himself, after talking to pilots and studying charts, reconnoitered to the eastward of Sewells Point and found a suitably unfortified landing site near Willoughby Point. The troops embarked in transports that night. The next morning they landed near the site selected by the President. The latter, still afloat, from his "command ship" Miami ordered the Monitor to reconnoiter Sewells Point to learn if the batteries were still manned. When he found the works abandoned, President Lincoln ordered Major General Wool's troops to march on Norfolk, where they arrived late on the afternoon of the 10th.

On May 10, 1862, Norfolk Navy Yard was set afire before being evacuated by Confederate forces in a general withdrawal up the peninsula to defend Richmond. Union troops crossed Hampton Roads from Fort Monroe, landed at Ocean View, and captured Norfolk. With the entire area back under Union control, the isolated batteries at Sewells Point lost their importance and were abandoned. For the remainder of the 19th century, the area was largely undeveloped and sparsely populated.

Sewells Point in the 20th century Early in the 20th century, two developments at Sewells Point would have a long-lasting effect on its role in US history. Each laid the groundwork for founding of what was to become the world's largest naval base.

The first could be described as a civilian battle, one of competition, between the growing railroad and industrial powers. The other had its beginning as a civilian celebration. These were the building of the Virginian Railway and the Jamestown Exposition.

Building the Virginian Railway In the mid-1890s, William N. Page, a civil engineer who had previously worked building the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) had a dream. He knew of rich untapped bituminous coal fields lying between the New River Valley and the lower Guyandotte River in southern West Virginia in an area not yet reached by the C&O and its major competitor, the Norfolk and Western Railway (N&W).